Sunday Igboho: From Yoruba Nation Agitator To APC Enforcer?

 As Nigeria approaches the 2027 elections, a troubling pattern is emerging: political intimidation used to silence opponents. Recent statements attributed to Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, warning that opposition candidates should not campaign in the south-west, underscore this threat.

Only last week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu celebrated a historic visit to the United Kingdom — a country where the rule of law ensures free political competition. Imagine a Labour Party supporter in London threatening Conservatives with violence for campaigning in the city: they would face immediate police investigation, possible arrest, and criminal prosecution. That is a sharp contrast with Nigeria where thugs who threatened, rigged, snatched ballot boxes, main and kill peaceful voters are rewarded with political appointments after the party they worked for secures victory.

Yet in Nigeria, a self-styled activist can openly intimidate voters and opposition figures, while the ruling APC and the presidency have remained silent. I expected official statements dissociating themselves from Igboho’s ugly remarks, but none came. This raises the alarming question: if your candidate is popular and has performed well, why threaten others to prevent them from campaigning?

Igboho reportedly warned that former presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, should not campaign in the south-west ahead of the 2027 elections. He reportedly told supporters to “wear trainers boots” if they intended to campaign for opposition parties because he would make them run. He also declared total support for President Tinubu, insisting the south-west would vote “100 percent” for him and even suggesting prayers for him to remain in power beyond two terms.

In a functioning democracy, political competition is settled at the ballot box, not through threats of violence. Voters should be persuaded, not intimidated. Yet Nigeria has developed a troubling tolerance for political intimidation. During the 2023 general elections, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, threatened voters who might support opposition parties in Lagos. More recently, Mustapha Adekunle Olanrewaju, popularly known as Sego, faced questioning by the Department of State Services (DSS) after a viral video showed him warning that anyone who “made any mistake in 2027” would face consequences.

These incidents reveal a dangerous pattern — non-state actors, transport union leaders, political mobilisers, and self-appointed activists attempting to dictate electoral outcomes through fear. Sunday Igboho represents a particularly troubling version of this phenomenon.

Once known primarily as a Yoruba nationalist agitator, Igboho rose to prominence during the height of regional security tensions in the south-west. His supporters portrayed him as a defender of Yoruba interests during clashes with suspected bandits and herders. But his political posture has often been marked by contradiction.

In 2021, the same Igboho who now presents himself as one of Tinubu’s most vocal defenders described several prominent Yoruba figures — including Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife; Bola Ahmed Tinubu; and Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state — as “Fulani slaves.” He accused many Yoruba leaders, including traditional rulers, of failing to support the struggle to liberate the Yoruba from what he described as “Fulani oppression.” Speaking during a virtual town hall monitored by TheCable, Igboho claimed some Yoruba leaders were more interested in personal gain than protecting Yoruba interests.

His rhetoric did not stop with political leaders. In May 2021, he attacked Pastor Enoch Adeboye, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), for failing to support the agitation for a Yoruba nation and for perceived silence on insecurity in the south-west. Igboho reportedly said he would not commiserate with Adeboye over the death of his son because the cleric had not supported his ethnic agitation — a statement that shocked many Nigerians and revealed his expectation that religious leaders should champion ethnic causes.

Even more revealing is what has happened since Tinubu became president. The once-loud agitation for a Yoruba nation has largely faded from Igboho’s messaging. Instead of mobilising supporters for secessionist rallies, he now appears publicly wearing the “Asiwaju” cap associated with Tinubu and threatens voters who might support opposition candidates.

That transformation raises uncomfortable questions. If the agitation was truly about protecting the Yoruba from insecurity and injustice, has Tinubu’s presidency suddenly solved those problems? Have the killings by terrorists, bandits, and criminal herders disappeared from Kwara state and other parts of the south-west? Clearly not. Farmers still report attacks, and rural communities continue to live in fear in Oyo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states. Last month, Oba Kehinde Falodun, the monarch of Agamọ Community in Ondo State, was killed by suspected bandits. Yet the activist who once framed insecurity as justification for a Yoruba nation now appears more interested in defending a political party than confronting the problems he once used to mobilise followers.[/b]

The late Afenifere National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, and the late Chief Ayo Adebanjo will be very sad to see what has become of Sunday Igboho, whom they passionately defended because of his passion for securing Yorubaland from killers and bandits.

This is the essence of political opportunism. Agitations rooted in genuine grievances do not disappear simply because a preferred politician wins power. When activists abandon their loudest causes after political alignments change, their claims become difficult to take seriously.

Democracy cannot survive where individuals behave like warlords who determine which candidates may campaign in a region. No individual, however popular, has the right to declare parts of Nigeria politically off-limits. Nigeria is not a private estate owned by political loyalists. Yorubaland is not the personal political territory of any activist or politician. Every Nigerian citizen — regardless of party affiliation — has the constitutional right to campaign anywhere.

Threatening violence against political opponents is not loyalty. It is intimidation. And intimidation is the enemy of democracy. If these statements go unchecked, they send a dangerous signal: that elections in Nigeria are battles to be fought by political enforcers rather than contests decided by voters.

Security agencies must treat threats of political violence with seriousness. Political parties, especially the ruling APC, when such statements support their candidates, should publicly reject them. Silence can easily be interpreted as endorsement.

Nigeria’s democracy is still fragile. It has survived military rule, electoral fraud, and multiple political crises. One of the greatest threats today is the normalisation of political thuggery — the belief that democracy can be defended through intimidation. Figures like Sunday Igboho are dangerous not merely because of what they say, but because of what their words represent: a creeping culture where politics is enforced by fear rather than persuasion.

Nigeria deserves better. Our democracy must belong to voters — not to those who threaten them. As far as I am concerned, Igboho is only huffing and puffing. Who made him the Lord of Yorubaland or South-West with absolute power to determine who campaigns or not? If they campaign, how many voters can Igboho kill? We wait and see.

Akinsuyi, former group politics editor of the Daily Independent, writes from Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached at shabydayo@gmail.com

https://www.thecable.ng/sunday-igboho-from-yoruba-nation-agitator-to-apc-enforcer/